Man City transfer could solve two squad problems for the price of one

Manchester City are considering changes in their goalkeeping department and the moves could be beneficial to fitting in with squad rules.

Ederson has a year left on his City contract and could leave the club this summer

After their £111million outlay in June, Manchester City's transfer business for the rest of the window is being conditioned by squad rules set by the Premier League and UEFA.

City signed four players before the Club World Cup, bringing their total to eight new arrivals in 2025. This has left Pep Guardiola with a squad that is too big.

That has meant departures would always be required, but that is presenting a couple of issues. After Kyle Walker's move to Burnley, Kalvin Phillips, James McAtee and Jack Grealish are all set to follow him out the door.

That quartet all count as homegrown players when it comes to filling a 25-man squad for the Premier League and Champions League, however, which could leave City short in that department. For UEFA's rules, they also currently have four too many foreign players registered.

That would force Guardiola to leave players out of his Champions League squad, a situation the Catalan would hate. He likes to work with a smaller squad where everyone feels close to the action, rather than a group so big that some will be left on the outside.

Loan moves for Vitor Reis and Claudio Echeverri would provide half a solution. The South American teenagers could get regular first-team experience elsewhere, leaving City with only two too many foreign players for UEFA rules.

That still presents a problem, given the lack of obvious solutions right now. It is why Nico Gonzalez's future has become a topic of much debate just six months after his £50million arrival from Porto. This squad is heavy on central midfielders, and one of Gonzalez, 23, or 34-year-old Ilkay Gundogan could depart.

That would still leave City needing to shift one player, and an ideal solution might be presenting itself with Ederson, who is attracting interest from Galatasaray. The 31-year-old is out of contract next summer and spent last summer flirting with a move to the Saudi Pro League, so getting a fee for him now could be seen as good business.

His sale would allow City to press ahead with efforts to bring goalkeeper James Trafford back from Burnley. The 22-year-old left the Etihad for Turf Moor two years ago for £15million and has gone to another level with exposure to regular first-team football.

City have a £40million buy-back clause in that deal but will seek to negotiate that down with the Clarets. Trafford had been expected to move to Newcastle this summer until the Blues showed their interest.

Crucially, Trafford is not only a homegrown player but also, by UEFA rules, a 'club-trained' homegrown player. Each participant in European competition is required to select four players at the club for three years from the ages of 15 to 21 for their 25-man squad.

Selling Ederson and signing Trafford would solve two of City's squad-building problems in one move. It would also bring in a young goalkeeper who might be able to make the No.1 shirt his own for years to come.

Ederson, Stefan Ortega, and Marcus Bettinelli are all in their 30s, and City need a younger goalkeeper. Trafford always believed he could make it at City, and now he might get the chance to do so.

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